Short answer; you pray to a god you’re not sure exists, try meditation, throw your nickels into wishing wells, give yoga a shot, sacrifice your first-born for an idea, go to a medium or clairvoyant to find the answers to life, or—you delve into the dark arts and become a disciple of the dark side of the force…oh that’s just me? Well it works.
Step one: Thank you, come again.
Write it down, and email me your idea for consideration. Ill be sure to get back to you…..never.
Real step one: Record, and really pay attention to your dreams.
Purchase a dream journal and record those phantasmagorical dreams of yours. You know, those indelible ones that seem so fantastic, so awesome that they could have only happened in the dream world. Well, lets not leave it behind as your mind fades into reality, write it down. One of your dreams could be the catalyst to a best seller. So far, I have used three dreams as the base idea for my novels and you can too.
Step two: Don’t give up on an idea.
Build on a pre-existing idea, just because it’s in its infancy does not mean that it can’t be a best seller. Work on that idea and flesh it out as much as possible and if you have trouble building the world your book will exist in, go ahead and read my blog about how I build my fantasy world from scratch.
Good, good!
Step three: Use the force
You are a conduit, stop trying to come up with the greatest idea of all time and let it come to you. Its kind of like the force, let your hatred flow through you my young apprentice. “Yes, Yes. Good. I can feel your power.” – Emperor Palpy
When you expend a lot of energy trying to think of something, you can block the flow of ideas trying to channel to you. One of the greatest singers of all time said, “Just give me a baseline and ill do the rest.” Then we had Billy Jean. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you can be the best writer of all time, and I’m damn sure not saying you could be the next MJ, but, you can come up with a great idea.
Step four: Read other best sellers to help your idea along.
Or you can just read Stephen King in general. A funny thing happens when you read other novels. Subconsciously, your brain starts working and coming up with derivations of that book and maybe weeks, months, hopefully not years later, your wonderful mind regurgitates these ideas to you, probably in the form of a dream. This time however, it will be your own iteration of that book. A lot of great books have come about this way, don’t believe the hype. Lord of the Rings is still the prototype for a lot of fantasy novels. Do you really think Eragon just came out of thin air?
Now I am not advocating copying down Game of Thrones word for word, however, if you feel so inspired to craft an intricate world with magic, dragons, mages and different races that span thousands of years, just keep in mind, its been done before. And whilst it is very welcome, originality is for suckers and suckers taste delicious.
Step five: Clear head-space
As I said earlier, you are a conduit. Stress, doubt, anxiety; all these things work against the flow of ideas. Calm your mind and empty your soul, maybe listen to some classical music or something. If you want a best-selling idea to come to you, again you need to be in the right mental space to receive it.
Step six: Live a little, experience life. Do…things.
Ideas can be divine, but they are triggered and manifested by real life. It is quite possible that in your young, inexperienced life, you haven’t overcome the obstacle that will inspire your best seller, so go out, do things. Get your heart-broken a few times, traverse the landscapes of Europe, get bitten by a vampire. You never know what can inspire an idea. Maybe the sun-setting over Northern Ireland, the icy mountains in Colorado, or my favorite, the beautiful cherry blossoms in Japan.
It’s important to keep in mind that when the light-bulb does go off in your mind, make sure to send me an email copy of that idea so I can start writing it.
Step seven: Become a creature of habit.
In the same way that you can overcome writer’s block, by becoming a creature of habit and allotting time each day to building on your best-selling idea, you will find that not only will the ideas come, but they will flow easier than expected.
Lastly, be positive. Rome wasn’t build in a day. I’m pretty it took years and many slaves to build. So even if you have an idea, it may be in its infancy, give it time and let it breathe. Yes, your idea is like wine and wine also tastes good. While you’re at it, buy some wine, that also helps.
Disclaimer: If you are under the legal drinking age in your country of choice I cannot condone nor will I advise to partake in alcoholic consumption. I felt like I needed to say that.
When facing challenges or searching for ideas, I do a little research, make a few notes, and then let it go for awhile. I swear it percolates in the back of my brain and then the answers just show up.
I like a lot of these steps, but my mind tends to take in everything at once and then because of the sensory/mental overload it all just gets purged anyways. As a neurodivergent I get a never-ending shitstorm of “have you tried yoga” and the answer is always: “yes, I have” or the said point about the never-ending-but-good-intentioned-shitstorm-that’s-slightly-offensive… I appreciate it but it’s never really helped for whatever reason.
Personally: clearing my mind is a bit difficult because I have music on, and my head clears, but a minute later I get a literal headache because I actually cleared my head to much. The previous point about yoga. And college dorms aren’t the greatest spaces for quiet when you’re trying to do deep breathing and destress. I know it sounds incredibly ridiculous but….yeah.
I guess my question is….like…. “How do you know when your mind is clear enough?”
Or maybe it’s “Do you ever have this problem (regradless of neurotype)/Am I the only one with this issue?”
Or maybe it’s “Is there something very specific that you have tried to help with this problem?”
I mean. Go ahead and answer all of those if you want or none of them, I’m just curious more than anything else.
Great post! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I just let things be…and the answers usually pops in my head (whether or not I like the answer is another story).
Great post, your writing style is amazing! Honestly, I have never heard of dream journaling before, I will definitely check that it!
Good advice.
Thank you 🙂
I love the rampant humor in your posts! You never fail to amuse me. And, you’re right, I should be reading more Stephen King! Or reading in general. Not enough time in the day. Especially when you’re sneaking writing into your every spare moment. Nearing 60,000 words in a month and a half (co-authoring; the best!) and winding down towards the end now. I’m hyped for editing! And just hyped about writing in general! You seem to share this enthusiasm! Kudos! All the best.
That’s awesome! Wow 60000 words in a month is epic. That is absolute consistency. I’m impressed 🙂 Im in the “I need to reach out to publishers but I’m being a punk” stage. I must say I am in awe of the amount of words you have written. You’re awesome
Heehee. My best friend gets some of the credit too. We’re writing it together. We started it as a lark. It turned into a full length novel (and possible trilogy!) This is definitely my strongest writing streak yet.
Good luck with your reaching, punk!
This is a great post! I identify with all your points and added humor to an exponential degree. I love how you mention dreams, for thats where I started with most of my ideas. Instead of just letting them go, I started to write them down, and they have started developing on their own when I am writing or just living (and then I have to go hide somewhere to quickly jot down my ideas in my google doc before I forget ) : )
Honestly I have let some great ideas slip away into the nether but I have pulled some out of it with me :). My personal favorite place to get ideas haha. Thanks for reading!
ideas come to whem i don’t really expect it. it might be in a bus or any funny place. i really appreciate your post.
Lots of good advice here. Definitely need to live a little before you can write a little!
Some good points – thank you for a few ideas that may help. G:)
PS you read very quickly – I was impressed as you speed read my last week’s output in under a minute – lol G:)
These are all great tips. I find myself forgetting my ideas at times. I will defitnely use these tips!
Great post! I, too, am a lion, and thanks for checking out my blog! Though I must say, I am in no way shape or form trying to create a best-seller. The one book I wrote (a game supplement, specifically) and self published sold around 70 copies, with several going overseas to Europe and Australia. It cost more to mail those copies than it did the print them, but that’s the nature of self publishing. My day was made when a total stranger came up to me at GenCon, recognized me, and asked me to autograph his copy of my book. If you get time, check out the other stuff on my blog – not just my first wife’s poetry (which I think is the page you “liked”) by my poetry and my on-going VERY GEEKY serialized novel telling the story of a Tabaxi (D&D’s cat-people) wanderer. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!